Don't Worry Be Happy

I was up a few minutes early for a change. That was nice, especially given that the recent trend has been more towards sleeping in a few extra minutes. Immediately downstairs I slipped into my exercise shoes, looked out back, then hit the start button on the coffee maker in route to the living room for sit-ups.

Had both sit-ups and push-ups behind me before 540am. Made some coffee then headed to the PC. The first thing I did was check the weather. It was clear and cold - only 9 degrees. It wasn't supposed to get that cold overnight but the sky wasn't suppose to clear, either. I'm guessing that had a lot to do with it. The weekend forecast looked favorable for Saturday skiing. Wasn't expected to get out of the upper 20s and with a chance of a little more snow later too. Warming up again on Sunday though and then even more so heading into the following work week. Pretty much following the same up and down pattern we've experienced all winter long.

Next up was meditation, and I got perhaps the earliest start in the last few weeks. That went well. It was 610am and time to wake Mindy in a hurry. I headed up with coffee. Predictably, she asked that I bump up the heat. but I already had. Back downstairs to stretch.

Stretching was great. I finished near 625am and quickly changed into my running clothes in hopes of getting out the door on time, if not a couple minutes early. Because it was in the single digits, I donned an extra upper layer, adding a second, thin wicking shirt. That was wise. I was comfy and cozy from jump. After a quick stretch of the hammies from the front stoop, I was off to the races.

I ran the full 4.1 miles staying near the road's edge for most of it, where about an inch of fresh snow made for a soft track. Very nice! There was enough snow on the ground that I planned to shovel when I got back home. I started Mindy's Pilot, shoveled the drive, then walked the dog. By the time all that was done, Mindy was already heading out the door for school.  As she hopped into the warmed Pilot, she shared that my eggs were ready in the microwave.

The kids were already done with their breakfasts and upstairs playing Xbox. I woofed down my eggs then rushed off to the shower. It was Friday so I wore blue jeans and my black cashmere sweater. It is very comfortable. Wasn't downstairs until 803am, but that was plenty enough time to throw together a quick lunch. Mindy had already prepped my salad the night before. The kids, the dog and I headed out at 810am. I reminded the kids to bundle warmly, and they both did. Bella carried out Makayla's winter coat, the one she left at our place the evening before, when she tore out the house for home without it. Not sure what she was thinking.

Kenny was at the bus stop with his girls. Confirmed ski plans for Saturday. Jacob & Bella, however, wouldn't be joining us, this being a Jimaken weekend.  The bus was a couple minutes late. Jacob was fooling around standing in the middle of the street with his eyes closed. Not the smartest trick he's ever pulled. On queue, Eiknarf barked at Mrs Vanorder. She prompts her to most mornings. It was cold, Kenny an I headed our separate ways as soon as the bus pulled away.

Before heading off to work, I took care of a couple nagging tasks online. One, I renewed the boat registration, and two, I renewed Eiknarf's dog license. It took me a while to figure out how to edit her profile to reflect that she'd been spayed thus receiving the discounted license fee. Felt good to get those two things out of the way. I packed my iTouch and left for the office. The Accord had been warming for almost 20 minutes.

Arrived at the office between 845-850am. Parked up close. Walked in with the guy  that tore his Achilles tendon. He has to use a cart to wheel his bum leg around. Long healing process. Won't have surgery, as I understand it, for some time yet.

I hoped it would be a quiet day escalation-wise so I could focus on knocking out a couple important tasks. One, I wanted to draft my 2011 performance review, and two, I wanted to prepare my 4th quarter presentation slides. And if I still had time, I wanted to draft a recap of a technical timeline for an important project coming up.

As  I hoped, there were no urgent emergencies for me to contend with at least at the day's beginning.  I took full advantage by jumping straight into drafting my 2011 performance recap. Took most of the morning to draft. Saved it and then set it aside.  Talked with a peer for 30 minutes or so midday. Decided to take lunch around 115pm. Initially, I thought I'd be making two stops, one at Giant Eagle and then another to ASBCO. But as I exited the lot I all but scrapped the ASBCO stop and simply headed to the Dublin Wal-Mart instead of Giant Eagle where I needed only to pick-up some Crystal Light for making lemon nip.

I was back at the office by 145pm. Spent time finalizing my quarterly slides then did some editing to my performance review. This marks the first year in many (like 20) that I wasn't responsible for writing performance reviews for direct reports. And that, friends, is a wonderful feeling.

Before leaving the office for the day, I checked MRM's website. Claimed making almost a foot of snow the last couple nights and still calling for 4" of real stuff Friday night. That was uplifting. Called Mindy on my drive home. The kids had already left with their dad. I asked that she throw down some kitty litter on my side of the drive so I wouldn't slip back down. She agreed. I called Tommy next. Talked about our fast approaching Oregon trip and invited him to ski with us on Saturday. Still hasn't gotten out even once this season. Said Sunday would be his only shot, but when I shared that the weather forecast for Sunday wasn't looking good, and that we wouldn't be going, he opted for neither. Before ending our conversation, I shared that we would almost certainly be heading to CBC that night. He offered that he just might join us, but couldn't fully commit for business concerns.

Mindy had the drive cleared when I arrived home. It was snowing heavy, icy snow. Not sure why it was so icy, because the temperature was around 24 degrees. She walked Eiknarf next. When she finally came back inside we briefly discussed evening plans. She reminded me that her school holiday gathering was planned for Barley's. Oops! I had forgotten all about it, and for some reason thought we talked about going to CBC. I figured I'd better send brother Tommy a text indicating as much.

Mindy headed up to ready for a night out while I edited and published my Thursday blog. I headed up to freshen up about 10 minutes later, or just as Mindy was finishing up. All I needed to do was brush my teeth and brush my hair. Hey, when you're as fresh and good lookin' as me, it just doesn't take much. :)

We left for Barley's around 650pm. I let Mindy out near the door and then went and parked. I found a spot around back. Rare for us to park there.  I headed inside behind another couple whom I didn't know but for some reason speculated that it might very well be Mindy's new principal and husband. Later learned that it indeed was. Funny how that works out. Intuition, I suppose. Meanwhile, Mindy was already camped out near the bar with a few peeps. I went to the bar and ordered a Centennial from lovely Katy. I then found Kurt, Kent, and Tom the Mary Kay guy chatting at a table near the bar. I holed with them while Mindy hung with a bunch of girls, who I assumed were teacher pals from school, none of which looked familiar. But soon a couple familiar faces showed, Keri Anne and another whose name currently escapes me - Rene's buddy.

After a few minutes passed, Mindy introduced me to the gang, including her stand-in principal, Jan and her husband. Later A couple more familiar teacher faces showed, Carol, Jennifer & Shelly. Carol was in with her new beau, Paul I believe. Carol's an attractive athletic 47 year old woman who's been searching for true love ever since I've known Mindy. I guess I could say the same for Jennifer, but she's much younger.  I talked with our friends Jack & Leslie for a while, too. They are a lot of fun, and very interesting, especially Jack.

Later, Grandpa Tom and Steve showed up and joined in the fun. And then at some point I joined a booth full of Mindy's school peeps where we talked running. The group included her principal, Jan. Jan runs now, too, as does her friend Betsy. They both are closer to my age or perhaps even a bit older. We had fun, and some point broke into song, which is never rare for a night at Barley's. Later, our conversation turned to some life experience stuff. I was amused at the confessions from the whole flock of teachers. I like them even more now. :)

Most of the teacher friends peeled off near 10pm or so. Mindy & stuck around with Jack, Leslie, Grandpa Tom and Steve. I know for sure that I had four beers, and maybe even a fifth. Lost track. However, I know I had one Centennial, two White Rajah, and one Bells Hop Slam. That's right. It's out again. Bell's brews and releases a batch each January. It's out until the end of February or so, but then  that's it. This year's batch wasn't so good. Seemed to be missing that heavy piney bouquet I love so much.

Barley's was prepping to close when we left. Somehow Mindy roped me into picking up the check. It was just over a $100, too. Apparently she bought more food for their gathering than I guessed. She drove home. It was still before midnight but that's about all I can say with any certainty.

I was getting really hungry. I'd eaten just a couple bites of food all night. I woofed down some of the leftover pizza and then made a pepperoni and cheese wrap just before heading up to bed. Mindy was all but asleep when I joined her already in bed. Eiknarf was already in bed, too. She loves sleeping with her people.